Applause

Daihatsu · on record 1994 to 2025

The Daihatsu Applause was a compact family car with a saloon like profile but a large rear hatch, giving useful luggage access without conventional hatchback styling. It used front wheel drive and, on some versions, 4 wheel drive, reflecting Daihatsu's willingness to package practical engineering unusually. UK sales were modest, and surviving examples are now rare because the model served ordinary family transport rather than developing a strong collector identity.

GROWING

Red List classification, from population, five year trajectory and survival against peak. Reviewed each census.

2 licensed vehicles
2025 census

0.1% of the peak fleet remains licensed

declared SORN

total surviving

peak 2,231 in 1995 · +0 vehicles a year, five year trend

Population history

Licensed and SORN vehicles at each census. The filters below apply to the family population, MOT and registration figures. They do not alter the generation history above.

Licensed SORN Latest census observation SOURCE DVLA VEH0120 / VEH0220

Inside the surviving fleet

AutoCensus parses every DVLA variant description, so the fleet can be read by fuel and specification rather than as one number.

First registrations by year

When surviving examples first joined the British fleet.

New registrations

Vehicles first registered each year. A fleet still being sold shows here; a finished one shows only imports.

MOT reliability

DVSA test results for this family, 2005 to 2025.

Pass rate by year

Failure reason	Failures	Share of all tests
The calculated parking brake efficiency is too low	171	9.7%
A major leak of exhaust gases from any part of the system	125	7.1%
An outer constant velocity joint gaiter missing, split or insecurely mounted to it's housing	118	6.7%
The grooves of the tread pattern are not at least 1.6mm throughout a continuous band comprising the central three-quarters of the breadth of tread, and round the entire outer circumference of the tyre	113	6.4%
A rigid brake pipe excessively chafed, corroded or damaged	106	6.0%
A low braking effort is recorded from the parking brake on any wheel, indicating clearly that the brake is not functioning correctly	106	6.0%
A wiper blade insecure, missing or in such a condition that it does not clear the windscreen effectively to give the driver an adequate view of the road (through the windscreen) to the left and right sides of the vehicle, as well as to the front	76	4.3%
Deliberate modification which significantly reduces the original strength, excessive corrosion, severe distortion, a fracture or an inadequate repair of a load bearing member or its supporting structure or panelling within 30 cms of a seat belt ancho	71	4.0%

Counted across every recorded test, 2005 to 2025. Advisories are excluded.

Where the Applause remains

Based on MOT test locations, 2025. Test location is a proxy: a vehicle is counted where it was last tested, not where it is kept.

Postcode area	Vehicles tested	Pass rate
EH	2	50%

How this record was calculated

LATEST CENSUS2025

POPULATION SOURCEDVLA VEH0220 annual

HISTORY SOURCEDVLA VEH0120 GB · to 2013

MOT SOURCEDVSA results · to 2025

FAMILY DEFINITIONDAIHATSU APPLAUSE

PROCESSED20 Sep 2026

Full methodology

Population history combines DVLA VEH0120 Q4 census observations through 2013 with the annual VEH0220 census from 2014 onward. Figures before 2014 cover Great Britain only. Historical VEH0120 is used only when its overlapping UK observations reconcile to the current canonical family definition. Vehicles are grouped into this family using the DVLA GenModel together with durable routing rules for known inconsistencies.

Variant figures are parsed from raw DVLA model descriptions and the original string is always retained. Configuration is only assigned where the model description explicitly identifies it; a blank configuration is not treated as a two door Wrangler. Blank transmission fields are shown as manual because DVLA records the field for automatic vehicles.

MOT figures count tests, not vehicles, and geographic figures count each vehicle at its most recent test location. The decline projection is a straight line fitted to the latest five years and is illustrative only.